Portsmouth boys routs Kennett

PORTSMOUTH — Short rest suited Colin MacDonald and the rest of the Portsmouth High School boys basketball team just fine.

Two days after being held to a season-low in points in a 44-38 loss at Windham, the Clippers started fast and made short work of overmatched Kennett on Friday. MacDonald, a first-year varsity forward, matched his career high with 17 points in an 80-43 rout at Stone Gym.

His cousin, senior guard Travis MacDonald (13 points), and junior guard Zach Hansler (11 points) each had three of their team’s nine 3-pointers as the Clippers (11-3) hit their first four shots to go up 12-0 and never looked back.

“I didn’t even realize it until I looked up and it was 18-5,” said Colin MacDonald, of his team’s hot start. “They were playing a 2-3 zone and we took advantage of it, big-time. … We were bad (Wednesday). We needed to come out the way we did tonight.”

The Clippers hit their first four shots from the floor — three of them treys by Travis MacDonald — and shot 15-of-30 from the floor in the first half. Throw in the aggressive defense spearheaded by guard Donovan Phanor and this one was over early.

The 6-foot-4 Colin MacDonald drew the start against the smaller Eagles (4-11), but has largely come off the bench in his first varsity season. Against Windham he played most of the game but managed no points and just three rebounds.

“He has been getting better, no doubt about that,” said Portsmouth coach Jim Mulvey. “We’re trying to convince him he’s better than he thinks he is. I don’t know if he knows it yet. We need him to be successful against the better teams.”

When Hansler, who’d come off the bench in the second quarter, hit his first of two straight threes midway through that frame, the Clippers had gone up 39-16 and topped their point total from Wednesday.

“We didn’t score, but our defense was pretty bad up there,” said Mulvey. “We should have won the game, even though we only scored 38. Tonight we worked on keeping the ball on one side of the court, and getting lots of steals and traps.”

It was 45-23 at halftime and 64-36 after three quarters. The second unit played the entire fourth frame.

For Kennett, it was a big bump in a road that has gotten smoother of late. The Eagles, with just one senior on their roster, lost their first nine games but had won for of five coming in. They were led by a pair of sophomore guards, Brandon DiLucchio (11 points) and Nick Graziano (15 points).

“We knew it was going to be a physical, tough match-up with them coming off a tough loss to Windham,” said Kennett coach Steve Cote. “In the second half, more than anything, we said, ‘Let’s take advantage of the fact that we’re playing against an elite team.’”

The one truly elite team in Division II this winter has been Pembroke, which is 14-0 after outlasting Coe-Brown Friday, 43-37.

But Portsmouth will finish second or third if it can run the regular-season table with wins against St. Thomas, Souhegan, Kennett again and Pelham. Its next three games are on the road. Finishing second or third will keep in on the opposite side of the tourney draw from Pembroke.

On Friday, though, the Clippers were just happy to get ride of the bad taste in their mouths from two nights earlier.

“It was good to get a win,” said Mulvey. “We didn’t play well (Wednesday). We spent a lot of time Thursday working on our defense.”

It’s that defense, and the continued development of players like Colin MacDonald, that could make the Clippers contenders when the postseason gets underway early next month.

“I think I’ve grown tremendously,” said MacDonald, a wide receiver who plans to continue his football career at Division III Endicott College next year. “Coach Mulvey knows the ins and outs of the game, and (assistant coach) Tom Dowd knows them. It’s been good.”